Vinyl and Octavia Bust Out of Prisonby DoctorSpectrumChaptersChapter One: The First NightChapter Two: A Deal with the DevilChapter Three: The Great EscapeChapter One: The First NightThe Fort was Equestria’s highest security prison. For the twenty-two years in which it had been used since being built, only a few ponies had ever managed to escape from it, and even then there were rumours that the escapees had died shortly after escaping. The secret to the Fort’s success, and what made it so hard to escape from, was ironically enough, what made its name a misnomer. The Fort was a flying airship powered by magic, constantly surrounded by a force field. Anypony who wished to try to escape was welcome to try – they’d just need to find some way to get past the guards, disable the force field, and somehow survive the fall down to the ground. The only way onto and off the Fort was via a pegasus chariot used for transporting guards and prisoners, which was heavily guarded – not that it stopped prisoners for trying to escape using it. No pegasi had ever been imprisoned on the Fort for the simple reason that escape would be easier for them. The inmates consisted solely of unicorns –with their use of magic heavily restricted – and Earth ponies. Right now, one of those Earth ponies was feeling horribly depressed. “I can’t believe we’ve been sent to the Fort,” said Octavia, staring out of the bars of the cell which she and her marefriend Vinyl had been put into earlier that day. “So much for those concerts I was planning on going to after your trial… for going to see you open at that new club…spending time in our home…together…” “Why so glum, Octavia?” asked Vinyl Scratch, a small smile on her face. Octavia sighed. “Gee, I don’t know, Vinyl,” she said, downcast. “Maybe it’s something to do with the fact that for the next ten years, this cell is going to be our home, between you getting framed for murder and me unintentionally submitting inadmissible evidence in court.” Her ears drooped. “I didn’t even realise that submitting that evidence would get me sent to jail – I was expecting a fine or something.” “That’s a silly reason to be down, Octavia!” said Vinyl. “Oh, really?” Octavia asked. “What makes you say that?” Vinyl Scratch grinned. “Because I have a plan to get us out of here.” Octavia’s ears pricked up. “Really? What is it?” she asked, a feeling of hope blooming in her chest. Vinyl faltered. “I – well, I’m still putting it together, but – I promise you, it’s gonna be awesome! It’s gonna involve explosions, and cool team-ups, and, and, and – skydiving or something!” “Oh. Sounds awesome,” said Octavia, her tone low and sad. “H-hey, I swear, I’ll get us out of here, Octavia,” said Vinyl, her voice shaking slightly. “I just need a little bit of time to work something out, okay?” “I’m sure you will, Vinyl,” said Octavia, turning and walking to the bunk bed Vinyl was currently sitting on the top of. “Sorry for being so down, by the way,” she commented. “It’s just –I’m still processing that this is actually happening. We’ve actually been locked up in the Fort, the highest security prison in Equestria. How did this happen?” “I blame the Marefia,” said Vinyl Scratch, jumping off the top bed of the bunk. “We know that they were behind my frame and the trial which got you convicted – they probably pulled some further strings behind the scenes to get us locked up in here.” “Wow. Excellent. We know how we ended up in this hellhole,” said Octavia bitterly. “I’m sure that we’ll be able to convince the guards to let us out now.” “Ah, cheer up, Octavia,” said Vinyl, stroking the Earth pony’s face softly. “Until we escape, I’m sure that we’ll adapt to this place. I mean, hell, this is just like the old days for me!” Octavia’s face jerked upwards to look at Vinyl. “You were in prison once?” “What?” Vinyl asked, frowning. “No! I used to have a bunk bed!” That made Octavia giggle, at least. “Oh? Who did you share it with?” she asked. “Nopony!” Vinyl said cheerfully. “I just got it because bunk beds are cool, y’know?” Octavia laughed, surprising herself. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” she asked. She leaned forwards and gave Vinyl a quick kiss on the lips. “See, you’re already happier!” Vinyl said, grinning both from the kiss and from seeing her marefriend happy. “You just need to look on the positive side of things!” “Oh? Well pray tell, what are some of the positives to this situation?” Octavia asked. “Aside from sharing a confined space with the sexiest mare in Equestria, of course.” Vinyl’s grin grew. “Now we have all of the time in the world to play the greatest game in existence -” “Is this another of your roleplay things? Because we can probably get some handcuffs-” “- Vinylball!” declared Vinyl. Octavia stopped speaking, and instead gave Vinyl a strange look. “…Vinylball?” she asked. “It’s simple!” said Vinyl enthusiastically. “We each start out with thirty points. The first pony to ten Vinylpoints wins. You gain one Vinylpoint for each time you cheat, and since getting four aces counts as cheating, you lose for breaking the rules if that happens. Are you following so far?” “…What?” asked Octavia, not paying attention as Vinyl continued rambling. “…and then when you get the ball in the ring, pick up from your deck until you’ve got five Vinylpoints,” finished Vinyl. “So, shall we play?” In response, all that Octavia could do was burst out laughing. “Vinyl Scratch, you are honestly the silliest mare I know. But that’s why I love you.” Reaching out with her hooves, she grabbed Vinyl and pulled her in for a lengthy kiss. “I have no idea what I said to get that, but I’m not complaining!” said Vinyl cheerfully as Octavia pulled away. Octavia smiled. After her and Vinyl’s sentence in court had been declared, Octavia had spent the remaining few days before being sent to jail sinking further and further into a pool of misery and self-loathing. And now, for the first time since before the trial, Octavia was smiling, something which Vinyl had thought wouldn’t be happening any time soon. To her, it looked absolutely beautiful. “You’re too good for this place,” Vinyl whispered, brushing a hoof through Octavia’s mane. “I swear, I’ll find a way to get you – to get us both out of here. Mark my words.” “That would be nice,” Octavia replied softly. Without speaking, the two ponies lay down onto the bottom bed, their hooves wrapped around each other. For several minutes, they were completely silent, content to lay there with the warmth of the other around them. While they were like this, together, they could be content to just lie there and pretend that they weren’t in this terrible place, to pretend that they were still back home where everything was fine and they were safe and happy. In the darkness, Vinyl leaned forwards and kissed Octavia softly on the lips. Although in the back of her mind she knew it wasn’t true, Vinyl felt like she was to blame for the two of them being in jail – after all, if she hadn’t been framed for murder, or if she could have found her own way out of the situation, then neither of them would be in this situation. And so as she kissed Octavia, she tried to use the kiss to apologise – to tell Octavia that she knew how badly she’d screwed up, how much she wished she could take back her mistake, and how much she was going to make up for it. After she was done kissing Octavia, who kissed her back equally as passionately, Vinyl could only say three words. “I love you.” For the rest of the night, the two ponies stayed the way they were, wrapped in each other’s hooves on the bottom bed. From time to time, one of them would shift slightly, and the other would adjust, but for the most part they just lay there, shunning the outside world in favour of each other. Finally, several hours after they had crawled into bed together, one of the ponies spoke. “Vinyl? Are you awake?” “Yeah, Octavia. What is it?” “This- thanks to you, I feel good. I feel good after this first day of prison,” Octavia said quietly. She swallowed. “But this was just our first day, and we’ve still got a long time in here. What do we do next?” Octavia couldn’t see Vinyl properly in the darkness, but she knew that the unicorn was grinning. “Next,” Vinyl whispered, “we start planning the great escape.” Author's Note Hey kids! Hot writing tip #1 - when you need to pad out your first chapter further, put in some quickly-written fluff! Anyway, in all seriousness, this is obviously going to be more of an ongoing fic than my usual lazy one-shots. (It'll still be short - I'm picturing less than 10,000 words, but still). I think that I have a bad tendency to rush my one-shots and that they could usually use better breaks in the story, so here we are with this. Hope everyone is pleased with it! Chapter Two: A Deal with the Devil“So…are we ready to start planning our escape yet?” asked Octavia. “Octavia, if you could- I’m trying to think here,” said Vinyl, placing a hoof to her closed eyes. “This is going to require a lot of brainpower.” Currently, the two mares were on the top deck of the Fort. The top deck was supposed to be used for exercise by those who earned it, but really, most ponies there just used it for what relaxation they could get. Vinyl and Octavia had cells one deck below – what was referred to as the ‘safe zone’ by some of the ponies who had been shifted around a lot. The further down the ship you went, the less clean the cells were, and the higher security got. It used to be that the lower cells also had more lax security, due to the disgusting conditions and lack of care by the guards, but after some ponies had exploited this flaw to escape years ago, the security had been tightened. So far, Vinyl and Octavia had been on the Fort for one week, which as far as the two of them were concerned, was one week too long. “I understand you need a lot of your brainpower for this, dear, but you’ve been saying that whenever I bring up the subject of escape,” Octavia said, her voice quiet so that any guards nearby couldn’t hear. “Do you have a plan?” “Yes! Of course I do!” exclaimed Vinyl. “It’s just…still in the making. There are, y’know, obstacles to overcome, and variables to account for, and – and-” Octavia shut up Vinyl by giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, which caused the unicorn to stop her stammering in surprise. “I can see that this is stressing you out, you know. If you feel that I’m pressuring you, you can just say.” Vinyl sighed. “It’s not you that’s stressing me out – it’s myself.” At Octavia’s slightly confused look, she explained. “I just – I feel like I’ve got to do this right. And I mean, let’s face it, if we screw this up then we probably won’t get another chance any time soon, y’know?” “So the importance of the task and the fact that you feel all of the pressure on you is making you stressed?” Octavia asked for confirmation. Vinyl nodded. “Well if it will help to take the pressure off, I’m more than happy to contribute what I can,” Octavia continued. Upon Vinyl hesitating, Octavia added, “I know that you’re reluctant for me to help – why is that?” Vinyl fidgeted slightly. “Because, well – if I screw this up, the less you know the better. Makes you safer, you know what I mean?” As she spoke, she looked around the deck. There were still no ponies around them to overhear what they were talking about. Fear of some of the criminals kept on board the Fort had led to Vinyl and Octavia keeping to themselves for the duration of their stay – the last thing that they needed was to be dragged into some prison politics between the inmates. Octavia nodded. “Well, that certainly makes sense, Vinyl, but what if I wish to help? What if I’m willing to take the risk and help you?” Vinyl Scratch fidgeted again. She wanted to keep Octavia safe and protect her from the darker side of the prison. Hell, if she could, she’d teleport Octavia – and herself – out of the prison right this very second for Octavia’s sake. Could she survive in the prison for the duration of her sentence if she had to? Maybe, maybe not. Could Octavia? Almost certainly not. Vinyl had –very occasionally – met some ponies in clubs who had previously been in prison, and from what she had heard, it could get very nasty very quickly. All she wanted to do here was to protect Octavia, but the lack of knowing whether she could was slowly killing her. Looking at Octavia, who was staring at her with a neutral look, waiting for a response, Vinyl couldn’t help but bite her lip as she agonised over the decision for another moment more. Then she made up her mind. “Okay, but realise that if things go south, I probably won’t be able to protect you,” Vinyl said seriously. “Are you ready for this?” To Vinyl’s surprise, Octavia laughed. “Vinyl Scratch, when did you become such a caution?” asked Octavia. “You’re the mare who tricked me into finding an ancient treasure in the Amarezon Jungle! You’re the mare who fought an evil male version of me who was the head of a ninja clan to set us free from their clutches! You even survived one of Natural Twenty’s roleplays, dammit!” Once more, the Earth pony laughed. “One of your plans, failing? I’d just as soon throw myself off this ship!” In spite of herself, Vinyl couldn’t help but smile. Octavia obviously had faith in her, and over the past week, she had adjusted surprisingly well to the situation in comparison to how they had been their first night on the Fort. Grinning, she told Octavia what was on her mind. “Okay then, here’s what we’ve got so far: the way I see it, there are three obstacles in the way of our escape. Firstly, there’s our cell door, which is tightly locked whenever we’re in there. The magical dampener in the cell prevents me from trying anything like lock-picking, and I know neither of us have nimble enough hooves to be able to try anything like that.” “How do you know about the dexterity of our hooves, you brilliant mare?” asked Octavia, grinning as she put an arm around Vinyl’s body and gave it a small squeeze. Vinyl smirked. “You know as well as I do, what happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom. Anyway, the lock of the cell door probably has methods to prevent it being picked in the off chance that a pony with nimble enough hooves is imprisoned here, so it’s a moot point anyway.” Octavia nodded, secretly disappointed that Vinyl had gotten back to business so quickly. “Getting out of our cell will be pretty hard,” she said, thinking as she spoke. What ways were there to unlock the cell doors? Vinyl gave a short, shallow laugh. “They wish it was hard to get out of! The cell’s the easy part,” she said. A moment later, she looked around the deck to see whether anypony might have heard her slightly-too-loud exclamation. There were a group of convicts nearby who were probably in earshot, but they were talking amongst themselves. “I’ve got a way of getting out of our cell that they’ll never see coming,” she said to Octavia, stroking her chest fur proudly. “Does it involve ‘wubs’ in any way?” Octavia asked, holding up her hooves to emphasise the word. “Because I’m fairly certain that every pony in Equestria will see it coming if it does.” “Wubs may or may not be involved,” said Vinyl, grinning. “An entire ship of nice cells with friendly killers to be put into, and they had to put me into the same one as a madpony,” said Octavia, trying to hide her smile. “Just my luck.” “Bah, you’re just jealous that you don’t have my winning looks and sleek coat,” said Vinyl proudly, brushing some dust off her coat before putting her hoof down into a pile of something best left unmentioned. “Eww.” “Right, so getting out of the cells is the easy part,” Octavia said, trying not to laugh as she watched Vinyl wipe her hoof on a clean part of the deck. “There’ll be guards on both our deck and this one, you realise?” “Yeah, I’ve got that sorted,” Vinyl said, scowling as she realised that her hoof wasn’t going to get any more clean or dry at the moment. “I figure that when they come to investigate the cell, we knock out whichever guards arrive. Since they won’t activate an alarm, everypony will assume that everything’s good with our cell – for a little while.” Octavia frowned. “Knock them out? With what?” Vinyl shrugged. “We’ve fought ninjas, pirates, and robots and come out on top every time. I’m sure a bunch of prison guards are nothing next to them.” “We’ve never fought robots,” Octavia pointed out. “Well we should have, robots are cool,” Vinyl said. “Anyway, I figure that I can get us out of our cell, we can take care of the first few guards and then sneak past the rest – but beyond that I’m stuck. We need a way to disable the force field and then get off the ship alive.” Octavia thought for a moment. “Well…” she said slowly, thinking it over, “there are essentially two ways off the Fort. Firstly, there’s the way we got here – a chariot pulled by pegasi. The force field would be disabled briefly then. Could we use that to escape somehow? Disguise ourselves as guards, or something?” “Hmm…” Vinyl thought about it for a moment. “No,” she finally said, shaking her head. “I like the idea, and I want to use it, but it’s too risky. The second we get discovered, all bets are off.” “Then that just leaves one option: to somehow disable the force field, jump off the top deck – after getting past the guards, naturally – and then get off the ship from there and somehow survive the fall,” Octavia commented. She shook her head. “No offence Vinyl, but that seems even more deadly than disguising ourselves as guards. I think we’ll have to find some way to get off the ship via chariot.” “What, and get locked up in seclusion when our disguises are immediately seen through?” Vinyl asked. “The majority of guards here are male – we’d stick out like a moustache on a sea serpent.” “Well how do you propose we survive a fall two thousand metres to the ground?” Octavia snapped. “For that matter, how do you propose we disable the force field so that we can jump to our deaths?” “Maybe if you-” “Someone needs the force field disabled?” a new voice interrupted. Vinyl flinched as she saw who it was – Blackheart Bertha, a gold-coated unicorn who, until a year or so ago, had been in charge of most of the Manehattan underworld. How exactly she had gotten the privilege of being allowed onto the top deck, Vinyl couldn’t guess. Blackheart was accompanied by two other ponies who Vinyl assumed had been arrested with her gang when their leader was. With a jolt of realisation, Vinyl realised that these ponies had been the group she had noticed earlier – the group that she had noticed were in earshot but she had assumed were too busy talking. “Mind your own business,” growled Octavia to the ponies. “This is a private conversation.” “Not anymore, it’s not,” said Blackheart. Her voice was deceptively soft for such a cold-hearted pony – it was low and quiet. “While I’ve got my girls with me, I join whichever conversations I want.” The two ponies with her took a few steps around Vinyl and Octavia, enclosing them further. “Well then, what if we were to take your girls out?” Octavia asked, just as quietly. The threat surprised Vinyl –since when was Octavia so aggressive? “I’d like to see you try,” Blackheart challenged. There was a tense moment as the two ponies stared at each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move. “Hey – cut that crap out, you two,” said Vinyl, waving a hoof in front of the two. “Octavia, we’re not going to beat up her guards. Blackheart, you can join our conversation if you really want to.” “Why?” Octavia asked Vinyl, turning to the unicorn. “Do you really want her to hear what we’re talking about?” “If she can help us, then yeah, I’m fine with it,” said Vinyl. “Right now, I’d do almost anything to get us off this ship.” “So that’s what you’re planning? A prison break?” Blackheart asked. “Yeah. Octavia and I don’t really like the sights around here, if you get what I mean,” Vinyl said, acting more confident than she felt in talking to the gang leader. “And let me guess – you two need to disable the force field so that you can get off the ship?” Blackheart asked. Octavia frowned. “That’s not guessing – you overheard us when you interrupted earlier.” “Maybe,” said Vinyl. “What’s it to you?” “I might be able to disable the force field for a few minutes,” answered Blackheart. “What’s it to you?” “That might be useful to Octavia and I. What’s that to you?” “I might want to get in on that usefulness since I’m the one disabling the force field. Maybe. What’s that to you?” “I might want to think about this carefully. What’s that to –” “Guys, can you stop will all of the implications and the double-talk?” interrupted one of Blackheart’s guards. Octavia nodded in agreement. Blackheart rolled her eyes. “I want to get off this ship just as badly as you two. I’ve got some leniency in here thanks to some threats made to some guards’ families, but it’s not enough,” she said. “I want to be out there in Equestria, breaking skulls and stabbing goons again. I want to be back in a position where I can get away with anything, where I can be the kingpin of Manehattan again. You dig?” “Lovely,” muttered Octavia. “Yeah, I get what you’re saying. You disable the force field, in return we break you out with us,” Vinyl said. “Precisely,” confirmed Blackheart. “I can get some guards to let me out of my cell – along with some of my girls – and then we can make our way to the force field control room. We can deal with the guards there and turn off the force field for a few minutes, but afterwards you’d better have a way to get us all off the Fort or you’ll regret it.” Vinyl and Octavia looked at each other. Does she realise that we still don’t actually have a way to get off the Fort? Vinyl silently thought. “So? Do we have a deal?” Blackheart asked. “I disable the force field, you get the five of us off this ship?” “We’ll…think about it,” Vinyl said. Blackheart held out a hoof to shake which Vinyl reluctantly took. “Sure. You’ll think about it,” Blackheart said. “Just make sure that you make the right choice regarding my offer, you hear? Because it isn’t exactly the type of offer you can refuse.” “Of course,” said Vinyl, feeling her heart sink. She stared Blackheart in the eye, refusing to back down, but she knew that she was feigning the confidence she displayed. With that, Blackheart left, along with her guards. Octavia looked at Vinyl. “Well, what now?” she asked. Vinyl groaned. “Bloody hell, I have no idea,” she said, running a hoof through her mane in stress. “We go along with her plan, we end up letting one of Equestria’s most notorious crime bosses out. We don’t, we probably won’t get off the ship, and she’ll probably have us killed for daring to refuse her offer and planning to leave without her.” Octavia winced. “Yes, that’s quite a nasty dilemma.” She nuzzled closer to Vinyl in an attempt to comfort her. “But still, we haven’t quite worked out how to get off the ship. Maybe one of us will work out a way to get off the ship which we won’t need Blackheart’s hope for.” “Yeah,” said Vinyl, worry apparent in her voice, “maybe…” =============================== “Vinyl – no! We have to find another way!” “I’m telling you Octavia, there’s no other way! We’ve been over this a million times since I first suggested it – you know as well as I do that there’s no other way off the ship!” It was three nights since Blackheart Bertha had approached Vinyl and Octavia, and the two ponies were currently arguing in their cell. “But what if we haven’t considered someth-” “Stop saying that!” Vinyl interrupted. “We’ve been over this. We’ve studied the ship. There’s only one way off the ship, and we’ll need Blackheart’s help to disable the force field if we’re going to do it. We’re not sure whether we can disable the force field and then get off in the time before it’s reactivated, and the risk isn’t worth it.” “I – I know, but-” Octavia sighed. “Isn’t it selfish? Letting a criminal like Blackheart out of prison for our own safety?” Vinyl paused. The thought had been on the back of her mind for a while, and so far she wasn’t sure that she could justify it. “Well?” Octavia asked. She waited for an answer for Vinyl. And waited further. Finally, it dawned on her – Vinyl wasn’t going to give a response. “My god,” said Octavia. “We’re monsters. How did it come to this?” Vinyl sighed. “If I say that I’ll find some way to stop Blackheart, will that help?” “It – I trust you to, Vinyl.” Octavia gave Vinyl a small kiss on the lips. “If you say that you can find a way to stop Blackheart, I’ll trust you to.” “Thanks, Octavia,” said Vinyl, feeling slightly better about the whole matter. “Now, let’s get out there and tell Blackheart that we’ll accept her offer.” “…It’s the middle of the night, Vinyl, and we’re locked in our cell right now.” said Octavia. “How are you planning on getting out to see Blackheart?” “With wubs?” suggested Vinyl. Octavia grinned. “I love you.” =============================== “So, we have a deal?” Blackheart asked. It was the next day, and Vinyl and Octavia were meeting with the golden unicorn on the top deck. Vinyl hesitated. Although she had said to Octavia that she’d find a way to stop Blackheart from escaping, she wasn’t sure that she could. Was this really the right thing to do? “Sure,” Vinyl said, shaking Blackheart’s hoof. “We’ve got a deal.” Chapter Three: The Great Escape“Lights out in five minutes!” cried out a guard, walking along the length of the corridor. He was on the first deck, going past every cell and shouting out how long it was until the lights were out every thirty seconds or so. All throughout the ship, down to the lower cells, other guards were performing this nightly ritual. It was the night of the breakout, and as the guard walked past Vinyl and Octavia’s cell, the two mares looked at each other and nodded, silently readying themselves. They had told Blackheart that they would meet on the top deck fifteen minutes after lights out. They were planning to wait five minutes until after the lights were turned out then break out, giving them ten minutes to make their way to the deck. Octavia held her breath, waiting for a guard to inevitably decide to search their cell and discover their escape plan. Of course, she still wasn’t sure on how Vinyl was going to get out of their cell – Vinyl had insisted on keeping it a surprise for the sake of what she classified as fun – but if the guards saw what she was wearing, they would immediately grow suspicious. Prisoners weren’t exactly supposed to modify their bedsheets the way Vinyl had, and if they saw that Octavia was wearing the device created by Vinyl’s modifications, they’d definitely keep a close eye on their cell for the rest of the night, perhaps even separating the pair. As it was, Octavia lay under her sheets and pretended to be asleep as the guard walked past in the other direction, still repeating the same lines. Octavia was sure that the guard was going to knock on the bars and tell her to make her heart beat slower and quieter, but instead he kept going, not even glancing in the direction of the cell. Then, it was time. The lights were extinguished. Darkness fell upon the corridor, and although Octavia couldn’t see it, she knew that the lights had been extinguished in all of the other prisoner decks. “Octavia?” asked Vinyl, a few minutes after the lights had been turned off. “Yes, Vinyl?” replied Octavia in a whisper. “Are you ready to break out?” “Is it time to?” “Uh…no,” replied Vinyl, sounding a little sheepish. “I just thought I’d ask if you were ready.” “Well, I suppose I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Octavia admitted. “Awesome,” said Vinyl. A moment later, she added, “Hey Octavia, want to break out of here?” “I thought you’d never ask,” Octavia answered. “What do you need me to do?” “Stay away from the door,” said Vinyl, jumping off the top bed. Octavia’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness, so she was able to see what happened next: Vinyl reached a hoof to some of the fur on her chest and withdrew something small and mechanical from underneath it. “Is that-?” began Octavia. “- the Chekov’s Gun you bought me earlier this year?” finished Vinyl. Her wide grin was visible even in the darkness. Chekov’s Gun was a model of miniature sub-woofer which Vinyl liked to strap to her chest for some reason. “The guards didn’t find it when we were sent here, so I figured that I can probably overcharge it – my magic’s dulled, but I should be able to do that – and use it to blow a hole in our cell lock.” “You’re brilliant, Vinyl!” said Octavia, genuinely impressed. She had forgotten about buying Vinyl the Chekov’s Gun those long months ago, around the time they tried tabletop roleplaying with her friend Natural Twenty. “And you’re beautiful and sexy,” said Vinyl. A small glow illuminated her horn as she levitated the Chekov’s Gun from her hoof to the cell lock, and somehow locked it into place. She took a few steps back, to the far wall of the cell, and then looked away as another glow illuminated both her horn and the Chekov’s Gun. A moment later, there was a loud BANG! as though several firecrackers had gone off. “Told you it’d work,” said Vinyl confidently. “Now, do as I say and we should be able to take out the guards without any fuss.” It was less than a minute before the guards arrived. There was a pair of them – one a large pegasus, the other a small unicorn. “Aw, nuts,” said the unicorn, examining the door via the light of the torch he was levitating. “They somehow burned a hole in the lock or something. They must ‘a scarpered!” “Not entirely true,” said the pegasus, pointing a hoof at the top bunk, where Octavia lay, wrapped in sheets. Her eyes were closed as she mumbled something, seemingly asleep. The bottom bunk was empty. The unicorn moved the torch for a better look just as a dread thought hit him. “Hey Night Watch,” he said to the pegasus, “if one of these ponies escaped, how come they didn’t pass us in the corridor? We were guarding the only exit.” Before Night Watch could answer, two things happened. Firstly, a leg swept out from underneath the bed and into the unicorn’s hooves, knocking him to the ground. Secondly, the seemingly-asleep Octavia threw herself upright, and then in one swift moment leapt from the top of the bunk bed and tackled Night Watch. A few seconds later, Vinyl Scratch slid herself out from under the bed and slammed the unicorn’s head to the ground. There was a pause. “I got my guy with that head slam,” whispered Vinyl. “You need help with yours?” Octavia was covering Night Watch’s mouth – he had been knocked to the ground, but was struggling to shout out and get up. A moment later, Octavia lifted up Night Watch’s head and slammed it to the ground, mimicking Vinyl’s attack. Night Watch fell silent, Octavia’s natural Earth pony strength allowing for him to be knocked out with the one decent blow. “I’m alright, thank you Vinyl,” said Octavia. The two ponies fell silent, both of them listening for alarms of some sort. Both of them were panting and had racing hearts, partially from the sudden amount of energy expended in knocking out the guards, partially in fear of being caught. “I don’t think that we alerted anypony,” said Octavia, breaking the silence which had stood for almost a minute. “Damn,” said Vinyl, “this means that we’ll have to get Blackheart off the Fort after all.” Octavia raised an eyebrow at Vinyl, concerned. “You’re really not looking forwards to this, are you?” “Well, I have a backup plan, but… argh!” Vinyl made a motion to kick the wall of the cell, only stopping at the last moment as it occurred to her that it would just make more noise. “That stupid bitch has us over a barrel, and she knows it.” “…We’ll work something out,” said Octavia unconvincingly. She gave Vinyl a kiss on the cheek and trotted out of the cell. “Let’s just head to the deck now. Where are we meeting Blackheart?” “Towards the south side of the ship,” Vinyl said, following Octavia out of the cell. “Underneath the sign that says Gay Old Exercise Yard.” A moment later, Vinyl bumped into Octavia. “Oof!” “What did you say the sign said?” Octavia asked, sounding mortified. “Gay Old Exercise Yard. You know the one – they showed it to us on our second day when we were let up to the deck.” “The word,” Octavia began, barely keeping the impatience out of her voice, “is gaol! It’s pronounced the same as jail!” “Pfft. I’m right and you know it,” said Vinyl, trotting past Octavia to the upper deck. =============================== “-and so the other way I was thinking of breaking out of our cell was to get some relatives of ours to bake us a cake in the shape of a file and send it to us, only it’s not a cake, it’s really a poisonous Zanzibarian ha- are you listening to me?” Vinyl was talking to Octavia as they emerged to the deck of the Fort. “Blackheart’s done it,” breathed Octavia, looking up at the night sky. The usual pink force field which had surrounded the Fort from the first day Vinyl and Octavia had arrived had disappeared at some point, and above the ship was a night full of stars. To the right of the ship, Octavia could see the moon Luna had raised, a sight she hadn’t seen in weeks. “Whoah,” said Vinyl, staring at the night sky alongside Octavia. “I guess you kinda forget how pretty the stars are after a few weeks of not seeing them, hey?” “‘Pretty’?” repeated Octavia, smirking at Vinyl. “Not like you to use such terms.” “Hey, just because I’m a rough-and-tumble unicorn who acts like she’s got nothing to lose, doesn’t mean that I can’t use fancy words,” said Vinyl. “For example, I can say that you look positively beautiful tonight, Octavia.” As she spoke, her accent changed to match the one Octavia usually spoke with. Octavia didn’t care about the ship, the force field, or even the prison break in that moment. All she cared about was Vinyl. Taking a step or two closer, she leant in and kissed Vinyl, the most amazing mare she knew, or would ever know. They held the kiss for as long as they could, exploring each other’s’ lips and mouths. However, they eventually had to pull back. “Octavia –” stammered Vinyl, her legs shaking slightly. “I- I know, we need to get to Blackheart before the force field is reactivated,” said Octavia. “Sorry, it just felt – I mean, I felt very connected to you, you know? And I wanted to show you that.” “It’s all good, Octavia,” said Vinyl. “I wasn’t going to say we should meet Blackheart. I, um –” Vinyl looked away from Octavia and to the ground “- thanks. I really liked that.” There were no words spoken between the two ponies, but they smiled at each other, thinking the same thoughts. Vinyl and Octavia silently walked towards the meeting place with Blackheart, slightly closer to each other as they walked than they had before. “Is she here yet?” asked Vinyl as they approached the rendezvous point. There were no signs of any ponies other than guards, who were thankfully far away enough on the deck not to recognise Vinyl and Octavia as prisoners. Although they didn’t seem to be any more alert than usual with regards to the force field, it probably wasn’t going to stay that way for long once they realised that the force field wasn’t supposed to be off. “I’m not sure,” said Octavia, looking around. “If she’s not here, then what do we do?” “We jump off the side and hope that we –” Vinyl began, before being interrupted. “Let’s not let it get to that,” said Blackheart, stepping out from some shadows, along with her bodyguards from before. “I’ve upheld my end of the deal, Miss Scratch, and disabled the force field. I estimate we have a maximum of five minutes before the guards regain consciousness and re-enable it.” Vinyl stayed silent. “Are you going to get my associates and I off this ship?” Octavia glanced at Vinyl, who rather than answering, was staring at the deck of the ship. “Vinyl?” Octavia asked quietly. It took Vinyl a few moments before she looked at Blackheart. “Blackheart,” said Vinyl quietly, “I… I have a way to get off the Fort before the force field is reactivated. You see what Octavia’s wearing? That’s what can get us ponies off the Fort.” “Ah, I see,” said Blackheart, after examining the apparatus that Octavia was wearing. “Very ingenious. Made from your bedsheets, I assume?” Octavia nodded. “See, the thing is, though, I’m not sure that I want you off the Fort,” continued Vinyl to Blackheart. “I’ve heard about some of the horrible, horrible things that you’ve done, and I’m sure that you’ve done more, so I’m a little hesitant about letting you out into society.” “And yet if you don’t, not only will the guards catch us all once the force field is reactivated, I will also make you regret not getting us all off now,” Blackheart said, almost sounding impatient for the first time since Vinyl and Octavia had met her. “Now, get us off this ship, or you will regret it.” Vinyl smirked. It should have been a happy, mocking smirk, as she usually did. Instead, it was a cold, bitter smirk, laughing at Blackheart with one simple muscle movement. “Hey Octavia,” she said, not looking at the Earth pony, “remember that time that we were on that pirate ship?” Around the Fort, the pink force field flickered into existence for a moment before disappearing again. “Y-yes?” Octavia asked, wondering why Vinyl was bringing up their adventure at a time like this. Vinyl grinned at Blackheart as the force field flickered again. It seemed that Blackheart had not only disabled it, she had also had its mechanism damaged to buy them a few more minutes whilst it was fixed. “EPIC OCTAVIA MANEUVEUR!!!” Vinyl shouted. She had surrounded Octavia in a magical aura, and after taking a moment to gather her strength, threw her Earth pony friend off the edge of the ship. She only had time to see Blackheart’s expression of confusion and anger before jumping backwards off the ship herself. “VINYL – WHY DID YOU-?” shouted Octavia as Vinyl reached her a few moments after the force field around the Fort flickered back into existence. The two were falling, naturally, and as Vinyl reached Octavia, she held her close and wrapped her hooves around the Earth pony’s body. “IT’S OKAY, OCTAVIA!” replied Vinyl, shouting to be heard over the wind rushing past their ears. “I’VE GOT THIS!” “NO YOU DON’T! NO YOU BLOODY DON’T, VINYL SCRATCH!” shouted Octavia back. “WE’RE GOING TO DIE AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” Vinyl ignored Octavia. Reaching a hoof, she pulled a small string on the device Octavia had been wearing since they had left their cell. It was, naturally, a parachute, albeit a crudely constructed one made only from materials which could be found in a prison cell. The parachute billowed out, only attached to Octavia via some crude knots, with Vinyl attached to Octavia by way of hoof. There was a jerk, and then Vinyl and Octavia’s velocity was dramatically slowed as air filled the parachute. The two ponies were sweating and panting, Octavia moreso than Vinyl. Although Vinyl wasn’t going to admit it to Octavia, she wasn’t sure whether the parachute would work – she had designed it based off what she had heard and seen of parachutes, and hadn’t had the opportunity to test it. “Really, Vinyl?” Octavia asked after a few minutes of drifting. Her heart was still racing from the adrenaline rush and fear. “Your brilliant plan was to throw me off the ship?” “Hey, you wouldn’t have agreed to it, right?” asked Vinyl. “And it worked, so what’s the big deal?” Octavia shook her head. “You are the craziest mare I know,” she said, not so ready to forgive Vinyl. There was silence for a few more minutes. By now, the mares were only a few hundred metres from the ground. “You seemed quite hesitant up there,” commented Octavia. “Did you actually have a way to get Blackheart and her goons off the ship, or were you just acting?” “A bit of both,” said Vinyl. “Part of me was tempted to try and throw them off the ship – don’t think that that would have worked well – and part of me was tempted to just throw you off and stay back to reap the consequences myself. Oh, and I also wasn’t sure whether this would work, so part of me kinda wanted to grab you and drag you back to our cell.” “Craziest mare,” said Octavia, shaking her head once more. But this time, there was a small smile on her lips. =============================== It took Vinyl and Octavia ten more minutes to reach the ground. They landed by a small lake by what seemed to be a dirt road. By Octavia’s estimate, they were somewhere out to the east, a long way from their home in Canterlot. “So, we’re two mares – sorry, escaped prisoners - in the middle of nowhere, with nothing on us except for a parachute and the fur on our back,” said Vinyl, somehow cheerful about the whole business. “Are you going to ask what I think you’re going to ask?” Octavia said. Vinyl grinned. “What happens next?” THE END (?) Author's Note Next Vinyl and Octavia story should be a bit more on the lighthearted side of things; I'm looking forwards to writing it. Hope you enjoyed reading this, and thanks for sticking all the way through this one!
Chapter One: The First NightThe Fort was Equestria’s highest security prison. For the twenty-two years in which it had been used since being built, only a few ponies had ever managed to escape from it, and even then there were rumours that the escapees had died shortly after escaping. The secret to the Fort’s success, and what made it so hard to escape from, was ironically enough, what made its name a misnomer. The Fort was a flying airship powered by magic, constantly surrounded by a force field. Anypony who wished to try to escape was welcome to try – they’d just need to find some way to get past the guards, disable the force field, and somehow survive the fall down to the ground. The only way onto and off the Fort was via a pegasus chariot used for transporting guards and prisoners, which was heavily guarded – not that it stopped prisoners for trying to escape using it. No pegasi had ever been imprisoned on the Fort for the simple reason that escape would be easier for them. The inmates consisted solely of unicorns –with their use of magic heavily restricted – and Earth ponies. Right now, one of those Earth ponies was feeling horribly depressed. “I can’t believe we’ve been sent to the Fort,” said Octavia, staring out of the bars of the cell which she and her marefriend Vinyl had been put into earlier that day. “So much for those concerts I was planning on going to after your trial… for going to see you open at that new club…spending time in our home…together…” “Why so glum, Octavia?” asked Vinyl Scratch, a small smile on her face. Octavia sighed. “Gee, I don’t know, Vinyl,” she said, downcast. “Maybe it’s something to do with the fact that for the next ten years, this cell is going to be our home, between you getting framed for murder and me unintentionally submitting inadmissible evidence in court.” Her ears drooped. “I didn’t even realise that submitting that evidence would get me sent to jail – I was expecting a fine or something.” “That’s a silly reason to be down, Octavia!” said Vinyl. “Oh, really?” Octavia asked. “What makes you say that?” Vinyl Scratch grinned. “Because I have a plan to get us out of here.” Octavia’s ears pricked up. “Really? What is it?” she asked, a feeling of hope blooming in her chest. Vinyl faltered. “I – well, I’m still putting it together, but – I promise you, it’s gonna be awesome! It’s gonna involve explosions, and cool team-ups, and, and, and – skydiving or something!” “Oh. Sounds awesome,” said Octavia, her tone low and sad. “H-hey, I swear, I’ll get us out of here, Octavia,” said Vinyl, her voice shaking slightly. “I just need a little bit of time to work something out, okay?” “I’m sure you will, Vinyl,” said Octavia, turning and walking to the bunk bed Vinyl was currently sitting on the top of. “Sorry for being so down, by the way,” she commented. “It’s just –I’m still processing that this is actually happening. We’ve actually been locked up in the Fort, the highest security prison in Equestria. How did this happen?” “I blame the Marefia,” said Vinyl Scratch, jumping off the top bed of the bunk. “We know that they were behind my frame and the trial which got you convicted – they probably pulled some further strings behind the scenes to get us locked up in here.” “Wow. Excellent. We know how we ended up in this hellhole,” said Octavia bitterly. “I’m sure that we’ll be able to convince the guards to let us out now.” “Ah, cheer up, Octavia,” said Vinyl, stroking the Earth pony’s face softly. “Until we escape, I’m sure that we’ll adapt to this place. I mean, hell, this is just like the old days for me!” Octavia’s face jerked upwards to look at Vinyl. “You were in prison once?” “What?” Vinyl asked, frowning. “No! I used to have a bunk bed!” That made Octavia giggle, at least. “Oh? Who did you share it with?” she asked. “Nopony!” Vinyl said cheerfully. “I just got it because bunk beds are cool, y’know?” Octavia laughed, surprising herself. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” she asked. She leaned forwards and gave Vinyl a quick kiss on the lips. “See, you’re already happier!” Vinyl said, grinning both from the kiss and from seeing her marefriend happy. “You just need to look on the positive side of things!” “Oh? Well pray tell, what are some of the positives to this situation?” Octavia asked. “Aside from sharing a confined space with the sexiest mare in Equestria, of course.” Vinyl’s grin grew. “Now we have all of the time in the world to play the greatest game in existence -” “Is this another of your roleplay things? Because we can probably get some handcuffs-” “- Vinylball!” declared Vinyl. Octavia stopped speaking, and instead gave Vinyl a strange look. “…Vinylball?” she asked. “It’s simple!” said Vinyl enthusiastically. “We each start out with thirty points. The first pony to ten Vinylpoints wins. You gain one Vinylpoint for each time you cheat, and since getting four aces counts as cheating, you lose for breaking the rules if that happens. Are you following so far?” “…What?” asked Octavia, not paying attention as Vinyl continued rambling. “…and then when you get the ball in the ring, pick up from your deck until you’ve got five Vinylpoints,” finished Vinyl. “So, shall we play?” In response, all that Octavia could do was burst out laughing. “Vinyl Scratch, you are honestly the silliest mare I know. But that’s why I love you.” Reaching out with her hooves, she grabbed Vinyl and pulled her in for a lengthy kiss. “I have no idea what I said to get that, but I’m not complaining!” said Vinyl cheerfully as Octavia pulled away. Octavia smiled. After her and Vinyl’s sentence in court had been declared, Octavia had spent the remaining few days before being sent to jail sinking further and further into a pool of misery and self-loathing. And now, for the first time since before the trial, Octavia was smiling, something which Vinyl had thought wouldn’t be happening any time soon. To her, it looked absolutely beautiful. “You’re too good for this place,” Vinyl whispered, brushing a hoof through Octavia’s mane. “I swear, I’ll find a way to get you – to get us both out of here. Mark my words.” “That would be nice,” Octavia replied softly. Without speaking, the two ponies lay down onto the bottom bed, their hooves wrapped around each other. For several minutes, they were completely silent, content to lay there with the warmth of the other around them. While they were like this, together, they could be content to just lie there and pretend that they weren’t in this terrible place, to pretend that they were still back home where everything was fine and they were safe and happy. In the darkness, Vinyl leaned forwards and kissed Octavia softly on the lips. Although in the back of her mind she knew it wasn’t true, Vinyl felt like she was to blame for the two of them being in jail – after all, if she hadn’t been framed for murder, or if she could have found her own way out of the situation, then neither of them would be in this situation. And so as she kissed Octavia, she tried to use the kiss to apologise – to tell Octavia that she knew how badly she’d screwed up, how much she wished she could take back her mistake, and how much she was going to make up for it. After she was done kissing Octavia, who kissed her back equally as passionately, Vinyl could only say three words. “I love you.” For the rest of the night, the two ponies stayed the way they were, wrapped in each other’s hooves on the bottom bed. From time to time, one of them would shift slightly, and the other would adjust, but for the most part they just lay there, shunning the outside world in favour of each other. Finally, several hours after they had crawled into bed together, one of the ponies spoke. “Vinyl? Are you awake?” “Yeah, Octavia. What is it?” “This- thanks to you, I feel good. I feel good after this first day of prison,” Octavia said quietly. She swallowed. “But this was just our first day, and we’ve still got a long time in here. What do we do next?” Octavia couldn’t see Vinyl properly in the darkness, but she knew that the unicorn was grinning. “Next,” Vinyl whispered, “we start planning the great escape.” Author's Note Hey kids! Hot writing tip #1 - when you need to pad out your first chapter further, put in some quickly-written fluff! Anyway, in all seriousness, this is obviously going to be more of an ongoing fic than my usual lazy one-shots. (It'll still be short - I'm picturing less than 10,000 words, but still). I think that I have a bad tendency to rush my one-shots and that they could usually use better breaks in the story, so here we are with this. Hope everyone is pleased with it!
Chapter Two: A Deal with the Devil“So…are we ready to start planning our escape yet?” asked Octavia. “Octavia, if you could- I’m trying to think here,” said Vinyl, placing a hoof to her closed eyes. “This is going to require a lot of brainpower.” Currently, the two mares were on the top deck of the Fort. The top deck was supposed to be used for exercise by those who earned it, but really, most ponies there just used it for what relaxation they could get. Vinyl and Octavia had cells one deck below – what was referred to as the ‘safe zone’ by some of the ponies who had been shifted around a lot. The further down the ship you went, the less clean the cells were, and the higher security got. It used to be that the lower cells also had more lax security, due to the disgusting conditions and lack of care by the guards, but after some ponies had exploited this flaw to escape years ago, the security had been tightened. So far, Vinyl and Octavia had been on the Fort for one week, which as far as the two of them were concerned, was one week too long. “I understand you need a lot of your brainpower for this, dear, but you’ve been saying that whenever I bring up the subject of escape,” Octavia said, her voice quiet so that any guards nearby couldn’t hear. “Do you have a plan?” “Yes! Of course I do!” exclaimed Vinyl. “It’s just…still in the making. There are, y’know, obstacles to overcome, and variables to account for, and – and-” Octavia shut up Vinyl by giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, which caused the unicorn to stop her stammering in surprise. “I can see that this is stressing you out, you know. If you feel that I’m pressuring you, you can just say.” Vinyl sighed. “It’s not you that’s stressing me out – it’s myself.” At Octavia’s slightly confused look, she explained. “I just – I feel like I’ve got to do this right. And I mean, let’s face it, if we screw this up then we probably won’t get another chance any time soon, y’know?” “So the importance of the task and the fact that you feel all of the pressure on you is making you stressed?” Octavia asked for confirmation. Vinyl nodded. “Well if it will help to take the pressure off, I’m more than happy to contribute what I can,” Octavia continued. Upon Vinyl hesitating, Octavia added, “I know that you’re reluctant for me to help – why is that?” Vinyl fidgeted slightly. “Because, well – if I screw this up, the less you know the better. Makes you safer, you know what I mean?” As she spoke, she looked around the deck. There were still no ponies around them to overhear what they were talking about. Fear of some of the criminals kept on board the Fort had led to Vinyl and Octavia keeping to themselves for the duration of their stay – the last thing that they needed was to be dragged into some prison politics between the inmates. Octavia nodded. “Well, that certainly makes sense, Vinyl, but what if I wish to help? What if I’m willing to take the risk and help you?” Vinyl Scratch fidgeted again. She wanted to keep Octavia safe and protect her from the darker side of the prison. Hell, if she could, she’d teleport Octavia – and herself – out of the prison right this very second for Octavia’s sake. Could she survive in the prison for the duration of her sentence if she had to? Maybe, maybe not. Could Octavia? Almost certainly not. Vinyl had –very occasionally – met some ponies in clubs who had previously been in prison, and from what she had heard, it could get very nasty very quickly. All she wanted to do here was to protect Octavia, but the lack of knowing whether she could was slowly killing her. Looking at Octavia, who was staring at her with a neutral look, waiting for a response, Vinyl couldn’t help but bite her lip as she agonised over the decision for another moment more. Then she made up her mind. “Okay, but realise that if things go south, I probably won’t be able to protect you,” Vinyl said seriously. “Are you ready for this?” To Vinyl’s surprise, Octavia laughed. “Vinyl Scratch, when did you become such a caution?” asked Octavia. “You’re the mare who tricked me into finding an ancient treasure in the Amarezon Jungle! You’re the mare who fought an evil male version of me who was the head of a ninja clan to set us free from their clutches! You even survived one of Natural Twenty’s roleplays, dammit!” Once more, the Earth pony laughed. “One of your plans, failing? I’d just as soon throw myself off this ship!” In spite of herself, Vinyl couldn’t help but smile. Octavia obviously had faith in her, and over the past week, she had adjusted surprisingly well to the situation in comparison to how they had been their first night on the Fort. Grinning, she told Octavia what was on her mind. “Okay then, here’s what we’ve got so far: the way I see it, there are three obstacles in the way of our escape. Firstly, there’s our cell door, which is tightly locked whenever we’re in there. The magical dampener in the cell prevents me from trying anything like lock-picking, and I know neither of us have nimble enough hooves to be able to try anything like that.” “How do you know about the dexterity of our hooves, you brilliant mare?” asked Octavia, grinning as she put an arm around Vinyl’s body and gave it a small squeeze. Vinyl smirked. “You know as well as I do, what happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom. Anyway, the lock of the cell door probably has methods to prevent it being picked in the off chance that a pony with nimble enough hooves is imprisoned here, so it’s a moot point anyway.” Octavia nodded, secretly disappointed that Vinyl had gotten back to business so quickly. “Getting out of our cell will be pretty hard,” she said, thinking as she spoke. What ways were there to unlock the cell doors? Vinyl gave a short, shallow laugh. “They wish it was hard to get out of! The cell’s the easy part,” she said. A moment later, she looked around the deck to see whether anypony might have heard her slightly-too-loud exclamation. There were a group of convicts nearby who were probably in earshot, but they were talking amongst themselves. “I’ve got a way of getting out of our cell that they’ll never see coming,” she said to Octavia, stroking her chest fur proudly. “Does it involve ‘wubs’ in any way?” Octavia asked, holding up her hooves to emphasise the word. “Because I’m fairly certain that every pony in Equestria will see it coming if it does.” “Wubs may or may not be involved,” said Vinyl, grinning. “An entire ship of nice cells with friendly killers to be put into, and they had to put me into the same one as a madpony,” said Octavia, trying to hide her smile. “Just my luck.” “Bah, you’re just jealous that you don’t have my winning looks and sleek coat,” said Vinyl proudly, brushing some dust off her coat before putting her hoof down into a pile of something best left unmentioned. “Eww.” “Right, so getting out of the cells is the easy part,” Octavia said, trying not to laugh as she watched Vinyl wipe her hoof on a clean part of the deck. “There’ll be guards on both our deck and this one, you realise?” “Yeah, I’ve got that sorted,” Vinyl said, scowling as she realised that her hoof wasn’t going to get any more clean or dry at the moment. “I figure that when they come to investigate the cell, we knock out whichever guards arrive. Since they won’t activate an alarm, everypony will assume that everything’s good with our cell – for a little while.” Octavia frowned. “Knock them out? With what?” Vinyl shrugged. “We’ve fought ninjas, pirates, and robots and come out on top every time. I’m sure a bunch of prison guards are nothing next to them.” “We’ve never fought robots,” Octavia pointed out. “Well we should have, robots are cool,” Vinyl said. “Anyway, I figure that I can get us out of our cell, we can take care of the first few guards and then sneak past the rest – but beyond that I’m stuck. We need a way to disable the force field and then get off the ship alive.” Octavia thought for a moment. “Well…” she said slowly, thinking it over, “there are essentially two ways off the Fort. Firstly, there’s the way we got here – a chariot pulled by pegasi. The force field would be disabled briefly then. Could we use that to escape somehow? Disguise ourselves as guards, or something?” “Hmm…” Vinyl thought about it for a moment. “No,” she finally said, shaking her head. “I like the idea, and I want to use it, but it’s too risky. The second we get discovered, all bets are off.” “Then that just leaves one option: to somehow disable the force field, jump off the top deck – after getting past the guards, naturally – and then get off the ship from there and somehow survive the fall,” Octavia commented. She shook her head. “No offence Vinyl, but that seems even more deadly than disguising ourselves as guards. I think we’ll have to find some way to get off the ship via chariot.” “What, and get locked up in seclusion when our disguises are immediately seen through?” Vinyl asked. “The majority of guards here are male – we’d stick out like a moustache on a sea serpent.” “Well how do you propose we survive a fall two thousand metres to the ground?” Octavia snapped. “For that matter, how do you propose we disable the force field so that we can jump to our deaths?” “Maybe if you-” “Someone needs the force field disabled?” a new voice interrupted. Vinyl flinched as she saw who it was – Blackheart Bertha, a gold-coated unicorn who, until a year or so ago, had been in charge of most of the Manehattan underworld. How exactly she had gotten the privilege of being allowed onto the top deck, Vinyl couldn’t guess. Blackheart was accompanied by two other ponies who Vinyl assumed had been arrested with her gang when their leader was. With a jolt of realisation, Vinyl realised that these ponies had been the group she had noticed earlier – the group that she had noticed were in earshot but she had assumed were too busy talking. “Mind your own business,” growled Octavia to the ponies. “This is a private conversation.” “Not anymore, it’s not,” said Blackheart. Her voice was deceptively soft for such a cold-hearted pony – it was low and quiet. “While I’ve got my girls with me, I join whichever conversations I want.” The two ponies with her took a few steps around Vinyl and Octavia, enclosing them further. “Well then, what if we were to take your girls out?” Octavia asked, just as quietly. The threat surprised Vinyl –since when was Octavia so aggressive? “I’d like to see you try,” Blackheart challenged. There was a tense moment as the two ponies stared at each other, each waiting for the other to make the first move. “Hey – cut that crap out, you two,” said Vinyl, waving a hoof in front of the two. “Octavia, we’re not going to beat up her guards. Blackheart, you can join our conversation if you really want to.” “Why?” Octavia asked Vinyl, turning to the unicorn. “Do you really want her to hear what we’re talking about?” “If she can help us, then yeah, I’m fine with it,” said Vinyl. “Right now, I’d do almost anything to get us off this ship.” “So that’s what you’re planning? A prison break?” Blackheart asked. “Yeah. Octavia and I don’t really like the sights around here, if you get what I mean,” Vinyl said, acting more confident than she felt in talking to the gang leader. “And let me guess – you two need to disable the force field so that you can get off the ship?” Blackheart asked. Octavia frowned. “That’s not guessing – you overheard us when you interrupted earlier.” “Maybe,” said Vinyl. “What’s it to you?” “I might be able to disable the force field for a few minutes,” answered Blackheart. “What’s it to you?” “That might be useful to Octavia and I. What’s that to you?” “I might want to get in on that usefulness since I’m the one disabling the force field. Maybe. What’s that to you?” “I might want to think about this carefully. What’s that to –” “Guys, can you stop will all of the implications and the double-talk?” interrupted one of Blackheart’s guards. Octavia nodded in agreement. Blackheart rolled her eyes. “I want to get off this ship just as badly as you two. I’ve got some leniency in here thanks to some threats made to some guards’ families, but it’s not enough,” she said. “I want to be out there in Equestria, breaking skulls and stabbing goons again. I want to be back in a position where I can get away with anything, where I can be the kingpin of Manehattan again. You dig?” “Lovely,” muttered Octavia. “Yeah, I get what you’re saying. You disable the force field, in return we break you out with us,” Vinyl said. “Precisely,” confirmed Blackheart. “I can get some guards to let me out of my cell – along with some of my girls – and then we can make our way to the force field control room. We can deal with the guards there and turn off the force field for a few minutes, but afterwards you’d better have a way to get us all off the Fort or you’ll regret it.” Vinyl and Octavia looked at each other. Does she realise that we still don’t actually have a way to get off the Fort? Vinyl silently thought. “So? Do we have a deal?” Blackheart asked. “I disable the force field, you get the five of us off this ship?” “We’ll…think about it,” Vinyl said. Blackheart held out a hoof to shake which Vinyl reluctantly took. “Sure. You’ll think about it,” Blackheart said. “Just make sure that you make the right choice regarding my offer, you hear? Because it isn’t exactly the type of offer you can refuse.” “Of course,” said Vinyl, feeling her heart sink. She stared Blackheart in the eye, refusing to back down, but she knew that she was feigning the confidence she displayed. With that, Blackheart left, along with her guards. Octavia looked at Vinyl. “Well, what now?” she asked. Vinyl groaned. “Bloody hell, I have no idea,” she said, running a hoof through her mane in stress. “We go along with her plan, we end up letting one of Equestria’s most notorious crime bosses out. We don’t, we probably won’t get off the ship, and she’ll probably have us killed for daring to refuse her offer and planning to leave without her.” Octavia winced. “Yes, that’s quite a nasty dilemma.” She nuzzled closer to Vinyl in an attempt to comfort her. “But still, we haven’t quite worked out how to get off the ship. Maybe one of us will work out a way to get off the ship which we won’t need Blackheart’s hope for.” “Yeah,” said Vinyl, worry apparent in her voice, “maybe…” =============================== “Vinyl – no! We have to find another way!” “I’m telling you Octavia, there’s no other way! We’ve been over this a million times since I first suggested it – you know as well as I do that there’s no other way off the ship!” It was three nights since Blackheart Bertha had approached Vinyl and Octavia, and the two ponies were currently arguing in their cell. “But what if we haven’t considered someth-” “Stop saying that!” Vinyl interrupted. “We’ve been over this. We’ve studied the ship. There’s only one way off the ship, and we’ll need Blackheart’s help to disable the force field if we’re going to do it. We’re not sure whether we can disable the force field and then get off in the time before it’s reactivated, and the risk isn’t worth it.” “I – I know, but-” Octavia sighed. “Isn’t it selfish? Letting a criminal like Blackheart out of prison for our own safety?” Vinyl paused. The thought had been on the back of her mind for a while, and so far she wasn’t sure that she could justify it. “Well?” Octavia asked. She waited for an answer for Vinyl. And waited further. Finally, it dawned on her – Vinyl wasn’t going to give a response. “My god,” said Octavia. “We’re monsters. How did it come to this?” Vinyl sighed. “If I say that I’ll find some way to stop Blackheart, will that help?” “It – I trust you to, Vinyl.” Octavia gave Vinyl a small kiss on the lips. “If you say that you can find a way to stop Blackheart, I’ll trust you to.” “Thanks, Octavia,” said Vinyl, feeling slightly better about the whole matter. “Now, let’s get out there and tell Blackheart that we’ll accept her offer.” “…It’s the middle of the night, Vinyl, and we’re locked in our cell right now.” said Octavia. “How are you planning on getting out to see Blackheart?” “With wubs?” suggested Vinyl. Octavia grinned. “I love you.” =============================== “So, we have a deal?” Blackheart asked. It was the next day, and Vinyl and Octavia were meeting with the golden unicorn on the top deck. Vinyl hesitated. Although she had said to Octavia that she’d find a way to stop Blackheart from escaping, she wasn’t sure that she could. Was this really the right thing to do? “Sure,” Vinyl said, shaking Blackheart’s hoof. “We’ve got a deal.”
Chapter Three: The Great Escape“Lights out in five minutes!” cried out a guard, walking along the length of the corridor. He was on the first deck, going past every cell and shouting out how long it was until the lights were out every thirty seconds or so. All throughout the ship, down to the lower cells, other guards were performing this nightly ritual. It was the night of the breakout, and as the guard walked past Vinyl and Octavia’s cell, the two mares looked at each other and nodded, silently readying themselves. They had told Blackheart that they would meet on the top deck fifteen minutes after lights out. They were planning to wait five minutes until after the lights were turned out then break out, giving them ten minutes to make their way to the deck. Octavia held her breath, waiting for a guard to inevitably decide to search their cell and discover their escape plan. Of course, she still wasn’t sure on how Vinyl was going to get out of their cell – Vinyl had insisted on keeping it a surprise for the sake of what she classified as fun – but if the guards saw what she was wearing, they would immediately grow suspicious. Prisoners weren’t exactly supposed to modify their bedsheets the way Vinyl had, and if they saw that Octavia was wearing the device created by Vinyl’s modifications, they’d definitely keep a close eye on their cell for the rest of the night, perhaps even separating the pair. As it was, Octavia lay under her sheets and pretended to be asleep as the guard walked past in the other direction, still repeating the same lines. Octavia was sure that the guard was going to knock on the bars and tell her to make her heart beat slower and quieter, but instead he kept going, not even glancing in the direction of the cell. Then, it was time. The lights were extinguished. Darkness fell upon the corridor, and although Octavia couldn’t see it, she knew that the lights had been extinguished in all of the other prisoner decks. “Octavia?” asked Vinyl, a few minutes after the lights had been turned off. “Yes, Vinyl?” replied Octavia in a whisper. “Are you ready to break out?” “Is it time to?” “Uh…no,” replied Vinyl, sounding a little sheepish. “I just thought I’d ask if you were ready.” “Well, I suppose I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Octavia admitted. “Awesome,” said Vinyl. A moment later, she added, “Hey Octavia, want to break out of here?” “I thought you’d never ask,” Octavia answered. “What do you need me to do?” “Stay away from the door,” said Vinyl, jumping off the top bed. Octavia’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness, so she was able to see what happened next: Vinyl reached a hoof to some of the fur on her chest and withdrew something small and mechanical from underneath it. “Is that-?” began Octavia. “- the Chekov’s Gun you bought me earlier this year?” finished Vinyl. Her wide grin was visible even in the darkness. Chekov’s Gun was a model of miniature sub-woofer which Vinyl liked to strap to her chest for some reason. “The guards didn’t find it when we were sent here, so I figured that I can probably overcharge it – my magic’s dulled, but I should be able to do that – and use it to blow a hole in our cell lock.” “You’re brilliant, Vinyl!” said Octavia, genuinely impressed. She had forgotten about buying Vinyl the Chekov’s Gun those long months ago, around the time they tried tabletop roleplaying with her friend Natural Twenty. “And you’re beautiful and sexy,” said Vinyl. A small glow illuminated her horn as she levitated the Chekov’s Gun from her hoof to the cell lock, and somehow locked it into place. She took a few steps back, to the far wall of the cell, and then looked away as another glow illuminated both her horn and the Chekov’s Gun. A moment later, there was a loud BANG! as though several firecrackers had gone off. “Told you it’d work,” said Vinyl confidently. “Now, do as I say and we should be able to take out the guards without any fuss.” It was less than a minute before the guards arrived. There was a pair of them – one a large pegasus, the other a small unicorn. “Aw, nuts,” said the unicorn, examining the door via the light of the torch he was levitating. “They somehow burned a hole in the lock or something. They must ‘a scarpered!” “Not entirely true,” said the pegasus, pointing a hoof at the top bunk, where Octavia lay, wrapped in sheets. Her eyes were closed as she mumbled something, seemingly asleep. The bottom bunk was empty. The unicorn moved the torch for a better look just as a dread thought hit him. “Hey Night Watch,” he said to the pegasus, “if one of these ponies escaped, how come they didn’t pass us in the corridor? We were guarding the only exit.” Before Night Watch could answer, two things happened. Firstly, a leg swept out from underneath the bed and into the unicorn’s hooves, knocking him to the ground. Secondly, the seemingly-asleep Octavia threw herself upright, and then in one swift moment leapt from the top of the bunk bed and tackled Night Watch. A few seconds later, Vinyl Scratch slid herself out from under the bed and slammed the unicorn’s head to the ground. There was a pause. “I got my guy with that head slam,” whispered Vinyl. “You need help with yours?” Octavia was covering Night Watch’s mouth – he had been knocked to the ground, but was struggling to shout out and get up. A moment later, Octavia lifted up Night Watch’s head and slammed it to the ground, mimicking Vinyl’s attack. Night Watch fell silent, Octavia’s natural Earth pony strength allowing for him to be knocked out with the one decent blow. “I’m alright, thank you Vinyl,” said Octavia. The two ponies fell silent, both of them listening for alarms of some sort. Both of them were panting and had racing hearts, partially from the sudden amount of energy expended in knocking out the guards, partially in fear of being caught. “I don’t think that we alerted anypony,” said Octavia, breaking the silence which had stood for almost a minute. “Damn,” said Vinyl, “this means that we’ll have to get Blackheart off the Fort after all.” Octavia raised an eyebrow at Vinyl, concerned. “You’re really not looking forwards to this, are you?” “Well, I have a backup plan, but… argh!” Vinyl made a motion to kick the wall of the cell, only stopping at the last moment as it occurred to her that it would just make more noise. “That stupid bitch has us over a barrel, and she knows it.” “…We’ll work something out,” said Octavia unconvincingly. She gave Vinyl a kiss on the cheek and trotted out of the cell. “Let’s just head to the deck now. Where are we meeting Blackheart?” “Towards the south side of the ship,” Vinyl said, following Octavia out of the cell. “Underneath the sign that says Gay Old Exercise Yard.” A moment later, Vinyl bumped into Octavia. “Oof!” “What did you say the sign said?” Octavia asked, sounding mortified. “Gay Old Exercise Yard. You know the one – they showed it to us on our second day when we were let up to the deck.” “The word,” Octavia began, barely keeping the impatience out of her voice, “is gaol! It’s pronounced the same as jail!” “Pfft. I’m right and you know it,” said Vinyl, trotting past Octavia to the upper deck. =============================== “-and so the other way I was thinking of breaking out of our cell was to get some relatives of ours to bake us a cake in the shape of a file and send it to us, only it’s not a cake, it’s really a poisonous Zanzibarian ha- are you listening to me?” Vinyl was talking to Octavia as they emerged to the deck of the Fort. “Blackheart’s done it,” breathed Octavia, looking up at the night sky. The usual pink force field which had surrounded the Fort from the first day Vinyl and Octavia had arrived had disappeared at some point, and above the ship was a night full of stars. To the right of the ship, Octavia could see the moon Luna had raised, a sight she hadn’t seen in weeks. “Whoah,” said Vinyl, staring at the night sky alongside Octavia. “I guess you kinda forget how pretty the stars are after a few weeks of not seeing them, hey?” “‘Pretty’?” repeated Octavia, smirking at Vinyl. “Not like you to use such terms.” “Hey, just because I’m a rough-and-tumble unicorn who acts like she’s got nothing to lose, doesn’t mean that I can’t use fancy words,” said Vinyl. “For example, I can say that you look positively beautiful tonight, Octavia.” As she spoke, her accent changed to match the one Octavia usually spoke with. Octavia didn’t care about the ship, the force field, or even the prison break in that moment. All she cared about was Vinyl. Taking a step or two closer, she leant in and kissed Vinyl, the most amazing mare she knew, or would ever know. They held the kiss for as long as they could, exploring each other’s’ lips and mouths. However, they eventually had to pull back. “Octavia –” stammered Vinyl, her legs shaking slightly. “I- I know, we need to get to Blackheart before the force field is reactivated,” said Octavia. “Sorry, it just felt – I mean, I felt very connected to you, you know? And I wanted to show you that.” “It’s all good, Octavia,” said Vinyl. “I wasn’t going to say we should meet Blackheart. I, um –” Vinyl looked away from Octavia and to the ground “- thanks. I really liked that.” There were no words spoken between the two ponies, but they smiled at each other, thinking the same thoughts. Vinyl and Octavia silently walked towards the meeting place with Blackheart, slightly closer to each other as they walked than they had before. “Is she here yet?” asked Vinyl as they approached the rendezvous point. There were no signs of any ponies other than guards, who were thankfully far away enough on the deck not to recognise Vinyl and Octavia as prisoners. Although they didn’t seem to be any more alert than usual with regards to the force field, it probably wasn’t going to stay that way for long once they realised that the force field wasn’t supposed to be off. “I’m not sure,” said Octavia, looking around. “If she’s not here, then what do we do?” “We jump off the side and hope that we –” Vinyl began, before being interrupted. “Let’s not let it get to that,” said Blackheart, stepping out from some shadows, along with her bodyguards from before. “I’ve upheld my end of the deal, Miss Scratch, and disabled the force field. I estimate we have a maximum of five minutes before the guards regain consciousness and re-enable it.” Vinyl stayed silent. “Are you going to get my associates and I off this ship?” Octavia glanced at Vinyl, who rather than answering, was staring at the deck of the ship. “Vinyl?” Octavia asked quietly. It took Vinyl a few moments before she looked at Blackheart. “Blackheart,” said Vinyl quietly, “I… I have a way to get off the Fort before the force field is reactivated. You see what Octavia’s wearing? That’s what can get us ponies off the Fort.” “Ah, I see,” said Blackheart, after examining the apparatus that Octavia was wearing. “Very ingenious. Made from your bedsheets, I assume?” Octavia nodded. “See, the thing is, though, I’m not sure that I want you off the Fort,” continued Vinyl to Blackheart. “I’ve heard about some of the horrible, horrible things that you’ve done, and I’m sure that you’ve done more, so I’m a little hesitant about letting you out into society.” “And yet if you don’t, not only will the guards catch us all once the force field is reactivated, I will also make you regret not getting us all off now,” Blackheart said, almost sounding impatient for the first time since Vinyl and Octavia had met her. “Now, get us off this ship, or you will regret it.” Vinyl smirked. It should have been a happy, mocking smirk, as she usually did. Instead, it was a cold, bitter smirk, laughing at Blackheart with one simple muscle movement. “Hey Octavia,” she said, not looking at the Earth pony, “remember that time that we were on that pirate ship?” Around the Fort, the pink force field flickered into existence for a moment before disappearing again. “Y-yes?” Octavia asked, wondering why Vinyl was bringing up their adventure at a time like this. Vinyl grinned at Blackheart as the force field flickered again. It seemed that Blackheart had not only disabled it, she had also had its mechanism damaged to buy them a few more minutes whilst it was fixed. “EPIC OCTAVIA MANEUVEUR!!!” Vinyl shouted. She had surrounded Octavia in a magical aura, and after taking a moment to gather her strength, threw her Earth pony friend off the edge of the ship. She only had time to see Blackheart’s expression of confusion and anger before jumping backwards off the ship herself. “VINYL – WHY DID YOU-?” shouted Octavia as Vinyl reached her a few moments after the force field around the Fort flickered back into existence. The two were falling, naturally, and as Vinyl reached Octavia, she held her close and wrapped her hooves around the Earth pony’s body. “IT’S OKAY, OCTAVIA!” replied Vinyl, shouting to be heard over the wind rushing past their ears. “I’VE GOT THIS!” “NO YOU DON’T! NO YOU BLOODY DON’T, VINYL SCRATCH!” shouted Octavia back. “WE’RE GOING TO DIE AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” Vinyl ignored Octavia. Reaching a hoof, she pulled a small string on the device Octavia had been wearing since they had left their cell. It was, naturally, a parachute, albeit a crudely constructed one made only from materials which could be found in a prison cell. The parachute billowed out, only attached to Octavia via some crude knots, with Vinyl attached to Octavia by way of hoof. There was a jerk, and then Vinyl and Octavia’s velocity was dramatically slowed as air filled the parachute. The two ponies were sweating and panting, Octavia moreso than Vinyl. Although Vinyl wasn’t going to admit it to Octavia, she wasn’t sure whether the parachute would work – she had designed it based off what she had heard and seen of parachutes, and hadn’t had the opportunity to test it. “Really, Vinyl?” Octavia asked after a few minutes of drifting. Her heart was still racing from the adrenaline rush and fear. “Your brilliant plan was to throw me off the ship?” “Hey, you wouldn’t have agreed to it, right?” asked Vinyl. “And it worked, so what’s the big deal?” Octavia shook her head. “You are the craziest mare I know,” she said, not so ready to forgive Vinyl. There was silence for a few more minutes. By now, the mares were only a few hundred metres from the ground. “You seemed quite hesitant up there,” commented Octavia. “Did you actually have a way to get Blackheart and her goons off the ship, or were you just acting?” “A bit of both,” said Vinyl. “Part of me was tempted to try and throw them off the ship – don’t think that that would have worked well – and part of me was tempted to just throw you off and stay back to reap the consequences myself. Oh, and I also wasn’t sure whether this would work, so part of me kinda wanted to grab you and drag you back to our cell.” “Craziest mare,” said Octavia, shaking her head once more. But this time, there was a small smile on her lips. =============================== It took Vinyl and Octavia ten more minutes to reach the ground. They landed by a small lake by what seemed to be a dirt road. By Octavia’s estimate, they were somewhere out to the east, a long way from their home in Canterlot. “So, we’re two mares – sorry, escaped prisoners - in the middle of nowhere, with nothing on us except for a parachute and the fur on our back,” said Vinyl, somehow cheerful about the whole business. “Are you going to ask what I think you’re going to ask?” Octavia said. Vinyl grinned. “What happens next?” THE END (?) Author's Note Next Vinyl and Octavia story should be a bit more on the lighthearted side of things; I'm looking forwards to writing it. Hope you enjoyed reading this, and thanks for sticking all the way through this one!
